Essential

Japanese Phrases

When traveling abroad, the challenges of communication can often turn an exciting vacation into a frustrating experience. While travel SIM cards are better than roaming fees, the cost of using an online-only app can be expensive and phrasebooks still serve an important function in travel today. However, all of these books are extremely general and have an able-bodied user in mind as the audience. For travelers with disabilities, communicating your needs is extremely important. So, we have created a phrasebook of essential Japanese for travelers with disabilities.

There is no reason to redo what other publications have done better, so we recommend you do pick up a regular phrasebook to cover the basics. We will only focus on accessibility and disability related words and phrases. The Japanese will be written using Japanese characters so you can show it to a native speaker for the fastest results. For those interested in saying the phrase yourself, please see the pronunciation. This page provides a great explanation of how to pronounce Japanese: An Introduction to Japanese Pronunciation.

Accessible Japan strives to work closely with the people who use this site and want to be as inclusive of every disability as possible. If there is something you feel is missing from this phrasebook, please contact us and let us know.